Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

Charles Baudelaire

Intimate Journals

Name: Intimate Journals
Author: Charles Baudelaire

Flares and My Heart Laid Bare · French with an independent English translation.

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Intimate JournalsMy Heart Laid Bare · CV

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Facing Pages · Branch 106 of 118

My Heart Laid Bare · CV

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 211

De l’Obsession, de la Possession, de la Prière et de la Foi.

Dynamique morale de Jésus.

Renan trouve ridicule que Jésus croie à la toute-puissance, même matérielle, de la Prière et de la Foi.

Les sacrements sont des moyens de cette dynamique.

De l’infamie de l’imprimerie, grand obstacle au développement du Beau.

Belle conspiration à organiser pour l’extermination de la race juive.

Les juifs Bibliothécaires et témoins de la Rédemption.

T91.Amulets and moral dynamicsSols percés are pierced coins; sol is an older form of sou. Vertu means effective power in the reference to sacraments. Mysticité denotes a devotional or spiritual inclination. In the religious vocabulary of CV, obsession and possession concern demonic influence: the historical dictionary distinguishes an influence acting from outside from a demon acting within. These are terms of the passage’s spiritual dynamics.Académie française, sol (sou), 2024 · Académie française, vertu, 1835 · Académie française, mysticité, 1835 · Académie française, possession, 1835 · Van Bever 1920 facsimile, printed pp. 98–99

T92.Renan on faith and prayerIn chapter XVI of Vie de Jésus (1863), Ernest Renan attributes to Jesus the belief that faith and prayer give human beings power over nature, and places that belief within the period’s acceptance of miracles. Baudelaire’s finds it ridiculous is a hostile characterization. It is not presented here as a located verbatim statement by Renan.Renan, Vie de Jésus, chapter XVI · Van Bever 1920 facsimile, printed p. 99

T93.The antisemitic fragment and the witness traditionThe call for extermination is explicit in the printed notebook. The following image of Jewish Librarians and witnesses recalls a Christian tradition expressed by Augustine: Enarrationes in Psalmos 56.9 depicts Jews as bearers of scriptural books, and City of God XVIII.46 treats their Scriptures as witnesses to Christian prophecy. The latter argument invokes their continued preservation. These parallels explain the theological image without establishing Baudelaire’s immediate source.Van Bever 1920 facsimile, printed p. 99 · Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos 56.9, Latin · Augustine, City of God XVIII.46

Intimate Journals: My Heart Laid Bare

p. 212

On Obsession, Possession, Prayer and Faith.

The moral dynamics of Jesus.

Renan finds it ridiculous that Jesus believes in the omnipotence, even in material things, of Prayer and Faith.

The sacraments are instruments of these dynamics.

On the infamy of printing, a great obstacle to the development of the Beautiful.

A fine conspiracy to organise for the extermination of the Jewish race.

The Jews as Librarians and witnesses of the Redemption.

About This Reading Edition

Charles Baudelaire’s private fragments turn from art, love, and crowds to prayer, anger, work, and the discipline of writing. This complete bilingual edition presents all 117 sections of Flares and My Heart Laid Bare, including Hygiène, with an introduction and 104 explanatory notes.

Historical Text and Translation

The French follows Adolphe van Bever’s 1920 edition of Journaux intimes, printed pages 3–42 and 45–112. Its 117 Roman-numbered sections contain the complete Fusées and Mon cœur mis à nu, including Hygiène. These fragments were arranged after Baudelaire’s death; their printed sequence preserves that edition’s organization of loose sheets. The separate selection of maxims on love and the editor’s backmatter are outside this volume.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared this independent English translation directly from the French. Flares and My Heart Laid Bare retain the fragments’ abrupt turns, repetitions, images, and unfinished projects. French and English paragraphs remain paired, with verse, italics, and printed annotations preserved. The introduction places the notebooks in context; translator’s notes clarify references, ambiguities, and uncertain readings. All 104 notes meet the reader’s Essential criterion and remain available beside their passages.

Rights

Baudelaire’s historical French text and the 1920 printing are in the public domain in the United States. The independent English translation, introduction, and new editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. The linked facsimile and catalogue identify the printed source, while a historical transcription supplies a comparison witness. Original annotations retain their attribution, and source references distinguish the printed arrangement from the surviving manuscript sheets.